In bipartisan meeting, Trump vows to support a DACA fix

1of 10WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 09: Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) speaks during a meeting about immigration with U.S. President Donald Trump and Republican and Democrat members of Congress in the Cabinet Room at the White House January 9, 2018 in Washington, DC. In addition to seeking bipartisan solutions to immigration reform, Trump advocated for the reintroduction of earmarks as a way to break the legislative stalemate in Congress. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)Photo: Chip Somodevilla, Staff / Getty Images

2of 10President Donald Trump listens during a meeting with legislators on immigration reform in the Cabinet Room of the White House on January 9, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Oliver Contreras/SIPA USA)Photo: Oliver Contreras, MBR / TNS

3of 10Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas, center left, speaks while U.S. President Donald Trump, right, listens during a meeting with bipartisan members of Congress on immigration in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. Trump indicated he's willing to split contentious immigration proposals into two stages, providing protections for young immigrants known as dreamers and increasing border security first, leaving tougher negotiations on comprehensive legislation for later. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/BloombergPhoto: Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg

5of 10U.S. President Donald Trump, top left, listens as Representative Henry Cuellar, a Democrat from Texas, right, speaks while meeting with bipartisan members of Congress on immigration in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. Trump said any legislation that provides protections to young immigrants and addresses border security must be bipartisan, and he agrees with the Senate Democratic Whip that a deal is possible in the coming days. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/BloombergPhoto: Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg

6of 10WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 09: U.S. President Donald Trump (L) presides over a meeting about immigration with Republican and Democrat members of Congress in the Cabinet Room at the White House January 9, 2018 in Washington, DC. In addition to seeking bipartisan solutions to immigration reform, Trump advocated for the reintroduction of earmarks as a way to break the legislative stalemate in Congress. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)Photo: Chip Somodevilla, Staff / Getty Images

7of 10WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 09: House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) joins U.S. President Donald Trump and Republican and Democrat members of Congress for a meeting on immigration in the Cabinet Room at the White House January 9, 2018 in Washington, DC. In addition to seeking bipartisan solutions to immigration reform, Trump advocated for the reintroduction of earmarks as a way to break the legislative stalemate in Congress. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)Photo: Chip Somodevilla, Staff / Getty Images

9of 10Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, listens during a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump and bipartisan members of Congress on immigration in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. Trump indicated he's willing to split contentious immigration proposals into two stages, providing protections for young immigrants known as dreamers and increasing border security first, leaving tougher negotiations on comprehensive legislation for later. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/BloombergPhoto: Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg

10of 10President Donald Trump's shirt cuffs, embroidered with the number 45, during a meeting with lawmakers on immigration in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, Jan. 9, 2018. Trump is the 45th president of the U.S. (Doug Mills/The New York Times)Photo: DOUG MILLS, STF / NYT

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump told a bipartisan congressional delegation Tuesday that he will sign any legislation sent him to protect so-called Dreamers and eventually would back a deal that gives millions of undocumented immigrants a pathway to citizenship.

In a meeting at the White House that produced notable contradictions, the president appeared to back off demands for spending $18 billion on a border wall and other hard-edged security provisions in return for protecting some 800,000 undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children.

“It should be a bill of love, truly, it should be a bill of love,” Trump said during a 55-minute meeting with about two-dozen Republicans and Democrats from Congress that was televised by several news outlets.

“We don’t need a 2,000-mile wall. We don’t need a wall where we have rivers and mountains and everything else protecting. But we do need a wall for a fairly good portion,” he said.

The White House said later the president and congressional leaders had reached an agreement to negotiate short-term legislation in four areas: fixing the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy; border security; the State Department’s Visa Diversity Lottery program; and so-called chain migration.

Seated between two veteran Democrats, Trump displayed unexpected flexibility by saying repeatedly that he would sign any legislation Congress agrees on.

He called for a two-phase approach, first to take care of DACA and then to take up broader immigration legislation.

“My positions are going to be what the people in this room come up with,” he said. “If they come to me with things I’m not in love with, I’m going to do it because I respect them.”

Addressing Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., an immigrants’ advocate seated to his right, the president also appeared to endorse broader reforms that yield a pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants.

“You want to know the truth, Dick, if we do this properly, DACA, you're not so far away from comprehensive immigration reform. And if you want to take it that further step, I'll take the heat. I don't care,” Trump said.

The president’s remarks surprised and confused Republicans, who reminded him of extreme difficulties Congress experienced when tackling comprehensive solutions to immigration.

Democrats reminded Trump of the urgency in fixing DACA and the dangers of moving to broader issues with protections expiring for DACA recipients March 5.

Nonetheless, Trump insisted Congress could achieve the DACA agreement and then move to the broader immigration negotiations “the next afternoon.”

The White House willingness to allow nearly an hour of back-and-forth suggested an effort to present a substantively engaged president amid the recent public debate on his fitness for office. Trump listened agreeably to frank talk, particularly from Republicans.

“You have created an opportunity here Mr. President and you need to close the deal,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

Graham, a sponsor of Dream Act legislation to restore DACA protections, spoke of perils to Republicans.

“Right-wing radio and TV talk show hosts are going to beat the crap out of us because it’s going to be amnesty all over again,” he said. “I don’t know if the Republican and Democratic party can define love, but what we can do is what the American people want us to do.”

Laredo Democrat Henry Cuellar, one of three House Democrats in the meeting, told the president that roughly 40 percent of the nation’s undocumented immigrants became illegal because of visa overstays.

“You can put the most beautiful wall out there and it’s not going to stop them,” he said.

Afterward, Cuellar said he is “confident that moving forward, the president will be more open to working with us proactively at finding solutions that will not require wasting billions of taxpayer dollars on a giant concrete wall on the southern border.”

Texas Sen. John Cornyn, the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, wanted further assurance from the president that he would accept a combined DACA fix and border security legislation that Congress passes.

“Part of my job is to count votes in the Senate,” Cornyn said, recalling GOP leaders’ assertions at Camp David last weekend that they wouldn’t proceed with legislation absent the president’s blessing.

“So, that's I think the picture that we need to be looking through, the lens we need to be looking through, not only what can we agree to among ourselves on a bipartisan basis, but what will you sign into law. Because we all want to get to a solution here and we realize the clock is ticking.” Cornyn said.

The president’s lack of emphasis on the wall contrasted with a report Tuesday that his administration would delay or cut money for border security measures such as radar, patrol boats and a remote video surveillance system in the Rio Grande Valley while seeking $18 billion to build the border wall.

Citing an internal budget document, the New York Times reported that the administration’s request for wall funding represented more than half of the administration’s $33 billion spending plan for border security over the next decade.

In the White House meeting, Trump deflected a question about whether he’s committed to spending $18 billion to build the wall.

“We can do it for less,” he said. “We can build the wall in one year and we can build it for much less money than they’re talking about.”

Among mixed signals in the meeting, the president said he expected legislation that will be introduced shortly by Virginia Republican Bob Goodlatte, known as a hardliner on immigration, will be the basis of negotiations.

A more moderate approach is new legislation co-sponsored by San Antonio Republican Will Hurd that also could draw support, particularly from Democrats, as Congress races to find a DACA fix and finish must-pass spending legislation by Jan. 19.